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A woman accused of posing as a man and sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman said she was "caught in a web of lies".

Georgia Bilham, 21, of Cheshire, denies 17 sexual offences after allegedly deceiving the young woman.

Under cross examination in court, she admitted telling repeated lies to the teenager but said she thought she believed she really was a woman.

Ms Bilham told jurors at Chester Crown Court she enjoyed no sexual gratification from the encounters.

Prosecutor Anna Pope said: "You knew she was not going to be sexually attracted to you as Georgia Bilham?"

Ms Bilham replied: "I can't answer that."

Ms Pope said sex took place based on the complainant believing she was having sex with a man, but Ms Bilham said she believed she knew she was a female and she did not want to tell her who she really was.

"Why didn't you just say you are a female with a different name?" Ms Pope asked.

Ms Bilham replied: "Because I was caught in a web of lies."

She denied "getting a buzz" out of deceiving the teenager into believing she was a man, jurors heard.

'Love-hate relationship'

Ms Bilham, who had posed online as George Parry, a man from Birmingham, and wore a hooded top when meeting her alleged victim, said she had always been a bit of a tomboy but had never wanted to change her gender to a boy.

She had at one point questioned her own sexuality and said that her mother would "not be happy" if she was in a same-sex relationship.

Ms Bilham said she created the online profile because she was "not happy in herself" and that it was an "escape".

After the pair met, there continued to be an online "love-hate relationship" which became "toxic" at times, the court heard.

They went for a drive together in May 2021 but Ms Bilham crashed her mother's car into a hedge and when police asked for her licence it showed her real name.

Ms Bilham, of Bunbury Road, Alpraham, told the jury she believed a police officer revealed to the complainant her true identity.

"I think they told her I was female. It was not George, it was Georgia," she said.

She added: "I believe she knew about my gender the night of the crash."

Bilham said she stayed overnight at her home, sleeping in her bed, but always wearing a tracksuit with the hood up.

Defending Ms Bilham, Martine Snowdon, asked her when she touched the teenager sexually, did she think you were male or female.

"I thought she knew I was a girl since the crash," Bilham said.

The trial continues.

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